Thursday 25 January 2024

Lapwings at LMGP

 A decent number of Lapwings were at Little Marlow GP today.


I counted 514 in this photo after something had flushed the whole flock.




Thursday 18 January 2024

Great Hampden Crossbills

Crossbills had been reported at Great Hampden for some weeks.  I decided to take my U3A group there on 17th Jan and we saw several birds.  I went back the following day but failed to get any better photos as they remained high in the trees.  Fantastic to see these scarce Bucks birds.

Crossbills - High in Larchs - Digiscoped photo

The same two Crossbills taken with my Sony RX10

Crossbills - Four of the flock of about ten


Saturday 13 January 2024

Glossy Ibis at Little Marlow

 This Glossy Ibis was found about 13:30 on 13th January 2024.  With only eight previous county records for this species and a new one for my local patch list, I was keen to see it.  I was on site by about 14:15 and after wading through some remaining floodwater and the bird was still present. about 70 metres away.  The bird was disturbed a but came back to the same area of flooded meadow.  However a dog walker eventually flushed the bird and it flew across the river into Berkshire where it remained for some time.



The bird remained until 15th January at least, when I managed to get these better quality photos below.


Glossy Ibis - On the riverside meadow



A short video clip of te Glossy Ibis










Thursday 11 January 2024

Waxwings at Hazlemere

 First seen in nearby Widmer End on 27th December 2023, the flock apparently moved to Hazlemere where the moved around in the Elder Way area.  The flock frequently moved around, often breaking up.  By 11th January the maximum count was 75.  I visited on 9th January and saw at least 53 birds together.

The flock waiting to descend on a berry covered tree.




At one point a small group of Waxwings dropped down just above my head and I managed these closer images.





Tuesday 7 November 2023

Little Crake - A Bucks First

 I spent the morning of 7th November twitching a Little Crake that was found by a photographer the previous day at Linford Reserve.  This was a UK and Bucks tick for me so a nice bird to see.

A very skulking bird, it didn't appear for about an hour after I arrived in the Otter hide.  Plenty of other birders there enjoying the great views that the bird eventually gave.





It was difficult to get a clear view of the bird!


Saturday 4 November 2023

Little Marlow GP November

 A walk around the southern part of the lake and the riverside meadows.  Photos taken with Sony RX10.

Goosander - A nice drake found earlier that morning by Adam Bassett.
Rather distant and in light rain.  

Meadow Pipit - About six of these were i the partly flooded meadow.  Several landed in the bushes.
This bird was not visible in the camera viewfinder so I just focussed on the bush.


Monday 30 October 2023

A Few Flight Shots

 Just trying out the flight capabilities of the RX10.  The light is not brilliant this time of year but the camera focussed fairly easy most of the time.  All of the photos below are taken from JPGs.  I plan to look at RAW files at a later date.

Greylag Geese - Landing on the lake at Little Marlow

Black-headed Gull - Lots of these around so quite good to practice on.

Rook - The camera staying in focus as it flew past.


Magpie - At Cockmarsh.  Focus maintained despite the background.


Black-headed Gull - taken from the Bounty pub garden but sadly the pub was shut

I took 16 photos of this individual in burst mode as it twisted around in front of me. 
The focus hold was pretty impressive.